[AZA; Dragon City Central]
{DERRICK'S P.O.V.}
Demons.
They stormed the castle without honour or hesitation. While the weak screamed, the strong fought. "Protect the prince!" Erin's father—my guardian—ordered the castle soldiers.
Kings and queens of the Seven Realms fought side by side, defending the people. I saw my father. With each breath he took, his golden sword danced through the air—clean, precise, deadly. Now I understood why they called him the God of War.
My mother, fierce and radiant, defended the citizens with her life.
It was chaos—bloody, loud, violent. Screams echoed. People ran in all directions. Others stood their ground, locked in battle. I tried to stay calm until—Mother.
She didn't see the demon behind her.
My heart stopped.
Everything blurred and faded into silence. All I saw was Mother—locked in a battle with two demons—while a third crept behind her with an axe twice her size.
My chest burned. My ears rang. And then I screamed. A scream that wasn't just mine.
The Nine Realms shook.
The ground split, and every living soul fell to the floor, groaning in pain as the weight of the air crushed them down. The sky turned grim. The Golden Castle itself trembled.
A pulse of unimaginable energy exploded from me. It ripped through the entire supernatural world.
Demons disintegrated—turned to dust in a flash of divine light.
Then... silence.
Slowly, everyone rose, eyes wide, staring at me.
"Such power," someone whispered."All demons... gone.""He must be the Son of Light."
I stood in the middle of the crowd—every supernatural being in the Sup-Realm had witnessed it.
"That is some power, child," said Zyan, King of the Winged-Men, brushing invisible dust from his shoulder."Only one blessed by the Goddess could do this," muttered an old dragon."There is no need for a recognition ceremony," she declared. "This child is the Child of the Sun."
The crowd erupted."LONG LIVE THE PRINCE!" they chanted.
[Beyond the Borders of the Dragon Kingdom Walls]
{16's P.O.V. - Narration}
The train was swallowed by the earth—but Lucinda and her sons escaped.
I fell. From five thousand feet in the sky—engulfed in flames, unconscious.
I crashed into the barren desert and lay motionless for hours, until a troop of demon hunters passed by and spotted me.
"Hey, it's a child," a female voice said excitedly."That's strange…" a masculine voice replied."Leave it. Keep moving," said a deep, commanding voice.
"We can't just leave a kid here," another feminine voice insisted. "I'll check if it's still breathing."
"Don't touch it! It could be a trap—or a demon's child."
"He or she is not an it!" Lisa snapped, annoyed at her captain's cold tone.
She checked for a pulse. He (me) was covered from head to toe in a white cloak. She couldn't even see my face.
"He's alive," Lisa confirmed."He's supernatural," said Jennie, another woman. "But... I can't tell what kind."
"Are you done playing?" Drake's voice cut in coldly. "Let's keep going."
"No," Lisa folded her arms. "I'm not leaving him behind."
Only Lisa could disobey Captain Drake and not get scorched on the spot.
10 MINUTES LATER—
"I can't believe we're bringing this thing with us," Drake sighed, riding his horse.
Lisa pulled up beside him and smacked his head playfully.
"He's not a thing."
David and Jennie laughed—until Drake's glare shut them up.
When I awoke, I found myself in a strange place. The floors were smooth and slippery, echoing with every step. The ceilings were high, the space airy and vast.
I was lost in the moment until a soft voice called out.
"Oh, you're awake."
A tall lady—maybe 6 feet—walked over to me.
Lisa.
She was still in her white armoured battle suit, but her smile was warm and kind.
"I'm Lisa. Nice to meet you," she said, holding out her hand.
I backed away instinctively.
"It's okay. I won't bite," she smiled gently.
I hesitantly reached for her hand. She shook it up and down—strange gesture.
"What's your name?" she asked, sitting beside me on the soft thing I lay on—a bed.
I thought hard before answering.
"I don't have a name."
She blinked in confusion.
"What do you mean you don't have a name?"
"I... can't remember it. Maybe."
Before she could say anything else, a deep, magnetic voice echoed.
"Lisa, I told you not to talk to it."
A tall, commanding man walked in—shoulder-length brown hair tied in a ponytail, one strand falling over his handsome, stern face. His dark eyes were piercing, almost cold.
"Captain Drake," Lisa sighed.
Behind him, a man in black laughed.
"Come on, Captain, he's just a kid. What could he possibly do?"
Drake's glare silenced him instantly.
"How are you sure it's a he?" Drake asked, raising a brow.
"He spoke. His voice sounds like a boy," Lisa explained.
David, the man in black, approached.
"Don't mind our grumpy captain. I'm David. Nice to meet you. But… who are you?"
"Not who," Drake corrected. "What are you? Where do you come from? Why are you hiding your face? Are you a demon? What were you do—"
"Drake! You're interrogating him!" Lisa snapped, shoving him aside.
Just then, another woman in a black-and-white suit bent down and—